JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Mushy grass, water swelling tops of retention ponds, frogs croaking happily at earsplitting levels all point to the wet pattern we have been enduring during this excessively wet August.
Jacksonville has already seen nearly as much rain this month as in all of July and the pattern shows no sign of easing.
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All but two days so far in August have been wet putting the rain surplus 3.39 inches above normal. Total accumulation less than halfway through August is 5.8 inches and could approach the monthly average of 6.55 inches with just a couple more storms.
All this comes just weeks before we head into the rainiest month of the year, when September rain average swells over 8 inches in Jacksonville.
Flash flooding and more runoff could be problematic without a break in the daily slow-moving thunderstorms.
September is the wettest month since it coincides with the average peak in hurricane activity.
While tropical cyclones can bring buckets of rain, sometimes they dump less or simply don’t show up when storms normally blow in.
For example, last year Jacksonville had its fifth-driest September with only 2.35 inches of rain during the entire month. Half the rain came over two days as Hurricane Dorian passed 90 miles east of Jacksonville on Sept. 4. The heaviest rainfall was confined to a couple of bands in St. Johns and Flagler counties.
This summer is playing out remarkably similar to last year when dry conditions in July turned soggy quickly by August. Nearly 10 inches fell during August 2019 ranking it the 13th wettest for Jacksonville since 1960.
We will see whether next month stays wet or breaks the trend like last year. It will depend on the frequency of tropical systems in the area.